In a recent New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof credits evangelicals with pushing for AIDS and malaria programs and for “doing superb work on issues from human trafficking in India to mass rape in Congo.”

This is in contrast, he says, to the “save-the-worlders,”—that is, liberals. Kristof credits liberals for being concerned about poverty because for decades, they have supported big-government programs for the poor and sick, both at home and abroad. But since when is supporting government-run programs the only way, or even the best way, to help the world’s poor?